5-7 October is in Sydney Olympic Park there is an event. Not just any event. Its a game exposition! EB EXPO SYDNEY 2012 brought to you by EB Games Australia. My good friend Hussein and I wen there today, for a full day of adventure, fun and new experiences with new, unreleased games.

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Our journey began at 9am with the CityRail (CityFail) trains arriving with 15 minute delays due to the weather. However that did not stop us from reaching EB Expo! The moment we entered the center both of us were speechless. It was our first time at a game exhibition, and it was truly an unforgettable experience. I wont go into too much detail about all the stuff that was showcased there, but will only mention the ones I care about most.

Assassins Creed III. My most anticipated game of this year. After an hour of waiting in line, we managed to play 1 mission of this stunning new game. Took me a few seconds to remember the controls and to figure out where to go, but apart from that the game felt very nice. I did however manage to bug the game out (was being desynchronized during a cutscene cause I was being detected by the guard even though I was behind a wall). Thanks to that, I got 10 extra minutes to play :D

Facepalm due to me derping by pressing jump while climbing a cliff and dying.

They had some pretty awesome merchandise on sale (most sold out though, some not on sale, just on display). They even had Game of Thrones merch and WoW stuff as well.

But what amazed me the most were the cosplayers. These people have dedication! Some of the costumes I’ve seen there must have cost at least around 500$ maybe more. The ones I particularly liked were the Assassins Creed ones, TF2 ones, and CoD MW3 guys.

One more thing! There was a booth from THQ:

Thats right! South Park: The Stick of Truth! They did not let us play the game, but they did show us a 10 minute video of the development and the game mechanics. This was done under closed curtains due to age restrictions (Mature 18+ content). It was amazing! It is gonna be one hell of an RPG. With customizable character profile and look, turn by turn combat system and Mr. Slave! (they got heeeeeeaps of references to the shows episodes).

Here is my loot:

Well with that all covered and done, I can say it was one hell of a day; but it was totally worth it! Here are some pics:

I made this as a music monday a few weeks ago. Copy pasta from the Anime@UTS website.

Hello and welcome to the first thrilling episode of Music Monday with your host JamieJakov.

If you have you seen Ore Imo, Madoka Magika or Nisemonogatari you should be familiar with the group ClariS.

ClariS is a japanese pop music duo, consisting of high school girls Clara and Alice. The duo was formed in 2009 when the girls did a cover of the Vocaloid song “Step to You”.

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ClariS became popular because they were uploading their songs to the japanese video sharing website Niko Niko Douga.

After being signed by the Japanese record label SME Records, ClariS released their first major debut single “Irony” - The opening theme for Ore Imo. It was so successful that The Good Smile Company even released Nendroid versions of Clara and Alice.

Shortly after (February 2011) ClariS released their second hit single “Connect” which was used as the opening theme for Madoka Magika. Connect was awarded the Gold Disc for exceeding 100,000 copies shipped within a year.

Their forth single “Naisho no Hanashi” which was composed by Ryo os supercell was used in 2012 as the ending theme for Nisemonogatari.

The latest piece from ClariS is the Moyashimon Returns opening theme: “Wake up”. Also a new single called “Luminous” will be released October 10th and will be the used as the theme song for the upcoming Madoka Magika movie

P.S. I’m going to sing all of these song when we go to Karaoke next!

OMG now you people are gonna use their iPhones, iPod touches and iPad as portable consoles… And then complain why the graphics are worse than on a PS3… Oh god

Yesterday, 29th of September was the day of the UTS Anime clubs Annual General Meeting. There we discussed the events of this year and plans for the future. But the main event was the election of the new executive team.

First of we thanked the 2011-12 execs for all their hard work. And then we proceeded to elect the new team.

I wanted to go for two positions: Events manager and Screenings coordinator, and so I did. However apparently one person can only have one position, so therefore during the events coordinator elections, I was shot down. But then I was nominated for screenings director by everyone and everyone seconded it and so thats how everyone elected me as screenings director /shock XD

Overall the whole exec team changed (except for Mr. Prez and Kiri). We will make this year even more fun!

Full story on the Anime@UTS website

You all know about the iPhone 5. You have probably heard how people are disappointed with it. Some of you might even think that its not that good. Some of you have read blog posts about how its easily scratchable and breakable. Some of you maybe even heard bad things about iOS6. Well let me tell you what I think. Let me tell you MY experience with the amazing new iPhone 5.

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Friday 12pm:

Urbanest receive 8 iPhones. And of course my new iPhone 5 is there. I get my box, and start the whole epic unboxing process. First I throw out the brown cardboard box. Then I proceed to open up the pure white iPhone 5 box and there I see me beautiful new toy. Its just gorgeous! Inside the box was the new Lightning cable and the new EarPods, plus of course the manual and apple stickers.

Well now my actual impressions. My old phone was an iPhone 4 which I bought in october 2010. It has been my faithful companion for almost 2 years now. But alas its time has come.

First off I want to say that it feels like a toy in your hand. It is so light that you don’t even feel that that is a phone in your hand. The aluminum back feels really nice to touch and hold and the 4” display doesn’t feel that much different from the 3.5”. I definitely like the pure aluminum on the back of my white iPhone 5. It looks as elegant as my Macs. I have a feeling that they improved the speakers cause it sounds louder than my iPhone4 when I play music.

I can not describe how much faster the iPhone 5 feels in comparison to the iPhone 4. All the apps launch instantaneously, hell even when I restarted it, it only took 10 seconds to do it. Not only do the apps feel amazingly fast, but also 4G LTE allows much better speeds now. I did a speed test. The bottom values are on Telstra 3G, middle is my home Wifi with BigAir and top is Telstra LTE. Compare the speeds!

Overall I am very satisfied with my new iPhone. I am gonna enjoy using it/playing with it every day. As per tradition I name my apple devices as my favorite anime characters. So I dub thee iChitanda.

Posted from my iPhone5.

And today the internet brings you, Rock Cat:

On the night of the 12-13th of September (Australia time) Apple held their iPhone event wher they not only introduced the new iPhone but refreshed the iPod nanos and touches as well.

First let me talk about the iPhone 5.

• All new design: taller display, sleek aluminum plate on the back, smaller dock connector
• 4” Retina display
• Ultrafast wireless with 4G LTE technology
• Powerful A6 chip which is twice as fast as the iPhone4S
• Redesigned “EarPods”
• and the worlds most advanced operating system: iOS6

Currently I have the iPhone4 so for me this will be a big spec boost. So I knew I was gonna buy it months before it was announced. My (now) old phone I will give to my dad, cause he currently has some old battered up Samsung.

Now I shall tell you a funny story of how I pre-ordered the iPhone5:

Apple said that pre-orders for the new iPhone will start on the 14th of September. So I waited until midnight but the page didn’t allow me to preorder it. Ok, I waited till 1am, still no luck. Went to bed. Woke up at 8am, still no luck. Went back to bed. Woke up at 11am still no luck. Went to class. Was sitting there like an idiot in front of my computer constantly refreshing the website. The finally, the Apple Store site was taken down (which means they are updating it). But that lasted from 1:30pm till 4:40pm. I was waiting waiting waiting and waiting. Then at long last at about 5pm I preordered it from my iPhone4 Apple Store app. And only at about 5:30pm the Apple Store website came back up again.

Hopefully it will arrive on the 21st (friday) like promised, then I get to play with my new toy all weekend.

С 30го Августа по 12 сентября в Сиднее проходит фестиваль русского кино. Когда мои друзья меня уведомили об этом мероприятии, я был весьма заинтересован. 

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Фильмы представленные на фестивале:

• Жила была баба (2011)
• Сибирь монамур (2011)
• Два дня (2011)
• Пять невесь (2011)
• Елки 2 (2011)
• Мой парень ангел (2011)
• Высоцкий. Спасибо что ты живой. (2011)
• Искупление (2012)
• Поклонница (2012)
• Шпион (2012)
• Громозека (2011)
• Август.Восьмое (2012)
• Дом (2011)
• Белый тигр (2012)
• Орда (2012)
• Иван царевич и серый волк (2012)
• Матч (2012)

А так же:

• Война и Мир (1967)
• 1812 (1912)
• Эскадрон гусар летучих (1982)
• Плохой, хороший человек (1973)
• Неоконченная пьеса для механического пианино (1977)

Из перечисленных фильмов, мне посоветовали посмотреть “Елки 2”. Это семейная комедия про новогодние приключения 7 разных людей в разных частях матушки России, и их все связывает одно - теория шести рукопожатий. У человека есть знакомый, а у знакомого есть другой знакомый, и.т.д. Таким образом можно передать послание от ребенка в детдоме до президента Российской Федерации.

Фильм был интересный, с очень хорошими шутками и различными приколами. Я был очень рад увидеть актера - Головина Сашу, который играл Макарова из сериала “Кадетство”. (Я считаю что сноубордисты круче!). После окончания фильма, я начал плакать (ну не совсем плакать, но слеза пробилась это точно) . Не из-за того что мне грустно или печально, а потому что я вспомнил как я проводил новые года в Риге с родителями (последний был 2 года назад 2009-10 новый год). Я переполнен эмоциями и воспоминаниями родины. Во мне первый раз за 2 года в Австралии пробилось чувство что я хочу вернуться домой, что я хочу быть частью этого русского общества со всеми его недостатками и приколами.

Теперь мне хочется посмотреть еще русских комедий, чтобы не забывать родину, а то мои увлечения Японией доведут то того что я и про свою собственную культуру забуду!

Today me and my friends from Anime@UTS went to see the cherry blossom in Auburn botanical gardens.

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So everyone got to Auburn station at about 11:30 with a few exceptions, arriving earlier to prepare. We waked to the gardens and BBQ area and started up the whole cooking process at about 12.

We had heaps of snacks and drinks, so everyone was happy. Took a while to make the sausages though… After lunch we proceeded inside the gardens to look at the actual cherry blossoms and other plants. We also saw a swan and some koi fish.

Group photo:

Without further ado, here is the photo gallery:

Well aparently the Blu-ray version of the awesome anime Durarara is out for purchase in Japan.

Time to get my hands on the high quality version of one of my favorite anime!

And to my friends: have fun rewatching!